WELCOME, EVERYONE, TO THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE 2015 SIESTA SCRIPTURE MEMORY TEAM!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!
Allow me to introduce myself to you as your fellow sojourner for the next 12 months and your official cheerleader. It will be my pleasure to remind you often that, in Christ Jesus, you most certainly CAN be victorious in this adventure of the faith, this challenge of the mind and this discipline of the Spirit.
Nothing we’ve done on this blog since its inception has seemed to attract more outrageous favor from God. We are convinced that He loves it. God never misses a single individual going to the work of memorizing His Word but imagine His delight when a huge community of tremendously diverse women in age, background, and worship tradition band together in a pilgrimage of faith. You don’t have to stop and wonder if it’s God’s will for His words to abide in you. The Word of God alive, active, and abiding in us speaks to us, shields us, warns us, strengthens us, sanctifies us, equips us in our callings, and directs us in our decision making. It sharpens our insight and improves our discernment. It makes us wiser and, let’s be bold enough to say, even smarter. Our brains were hardwired to flourish across the board when nourished by the Scriptures. Above all else, Scripture abiding and thriving in us builds up our faith, for “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Â And, Girlfriend, we want to be women of faith. That faith erupts into works that were planned for each of us before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 2:10)
OK. I want to get right to it before I lose some of you so that no one will be unclear about the protocol.
The entry of your first verse is your official registration for SSMT (Siesta Scripture Memory Team). Everybody who joins us needs to start right here in a designated comment to this exact post. Even those who may jump in with us a couple of months late who are willing to work double-time to get it all done will start right here.
For a quick recap of our objective: Remember, we are committing to the memorization of 24 verses in 12 months. Two a month. We each get to select our own verses to align with our personal needs and challenges. Choosing a Scripture that resonates with you is immensely helpful in the memorization process. If you have trouble coming up with one of your own, you can always share mine or look through the other entries for ideas. You’ll find your SSMT posts right here on the blog at 8:00 AM on the 1st and 15th of every month in 2015. [Under the LINKS section listed on the right hand side of our blog home page, you will find all SSMT posts will store together for easy access. See “Scripture Memory Team 2015”.] If you haven’t had a chance to read all the instructions and hear about our end-of-year celebration, please go back and read the informational post then return to this spot. Questions unanswered here are answered there.
One of the most important things for you to know from the top is how to arrange your comment with the verse you’ve selected. We limit each comment to this information:Â
Your name, city, verse (written all the way out), reference, and translation.Â
SO, here goes mine! I’m obsessed with the Book of Ephesians right now so much of my memory work will probably come from those pages.
Beth Moore, Houston, Texas. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19 ESV
We’re fellow citizens with the likes of Peter and John and James and Stephen and Paul and Timothy and Barnabas and Joanna and Susanna and Lydia and Tabitha and just try counting all the Marys. We’re fellow citizens and members of the household of Middle Eastern believers confessing Christ in hostile climates, of Chinese believers meeting in house churches, of Eastern European believers finding hope in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Thessaloniki, in Paris, in Belfast, in Riyadh, in Copenhagen, in Calgary, and Rome. We – right here in this community – are sisters to a household of God that stretches across this globe, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. By grace through faith. “It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) That’s what makes us family. We, beloved sister, are in gorgeous company. Let’s give our time on this planet as part of this household all we’ve got. Christ is so altogether worthy.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! One last thing before I say Go! Don’t panic or jump the gun and post a second time if you don’t see your verse published soon. I will be moderating all these launch comments by myself because I don’t want my staff to have to work on the holiday so I beg your patience. I’ll be hard at work on it but it will take me a while to get them all posted. As a rule over the next 12 months, only post a second time if it’s been 48 hours since you left the comment and you still don’t see it.
****I noticed that some of you posted verses earlier than this post was published and they came up on the SSMT informational comments.  I should have doubly emphasized what time the posts will go up each round: 8:00 AM, each 1st and 15th. So sorry if I did not make that clear enough! If you submit your verse earlier than that, it unfortunately appears under the wrong post and, the way blog moderating works, there’s no way for us to transfer the comments over. If you left your 1st verse under any other post than this one, please add it here as well. This is the official registration post.  I know it’s a bit complicated at first! Hang with it! So sorry for your extra trouble!
Hey, I am so glad you’re doing this with us. So much love to you.
OK, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 Corinthians 12:19 -NLT. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
Angelique, Seattle, WA. Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 25:4-5 NIV
Sue Palmer, Elkton, MD. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 ESV
Pam T – Wadesboro NC- These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. KJV
Shelly, Nixa, MO
Listen to my cry,for I’m in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
Psalm 142:6 NIV
Mariposa
Albuquerque New Mexico
Ephesians 6:10-11 NIV
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Caryn Clark Bedford, TX
“Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23 NLT
Christine Cotton from Lincoln, Nebraska: “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 NIV
”
Berni Isabel Miami, Florida
â€Isaiah‬ â€43‬:â€19‬ NIV
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wastelands
Kristy,Battle Ground,Washington “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.” Isaiah 61:1 NLT
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart,but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevail” Proverbs 19:21 NIV
Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything, by in everything,by prayer and petition,with thanksgiving, bring your requests to God.
Isaiah 41:10 NKJV “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes. I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Stacey Pullen, Bastrop, LA
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected outcome.”
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
Melissa, Brandon, MS
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.” Psalm 51:10 NIV
Brenda McCabe, Glenwood , MD
And your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Isaiah 30:21 NAS
Mindy Vasil, Davie, Florida
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (
Isaiah‬ â€43‬:â€18-19‬ NIV
Debra Barker, Scottsdale, AZ. “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 NLT
Sydney Caron. Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
Philippians 4:13
Stephanie Anderson, Westport,KY. “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” Paalm 63:3-4 NIV
Tunkhannock, PA
You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. Rev. 2:4-5 ESV
Karen McCormick, Waco TX. “In those days when you pray, I will listen.” Jeremiah 29:12 NLT
Kay Gartside
Stephenville, Texas
Eph. 2:10 ESV
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, Which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Lynn from Michigan
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
St. Louis, MO
Ps.16:11 “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with etrenal pleasures at your right hand.” NIV
Michelle Parks Marshall Mi
John 8:12: when Jesus spoke again to the people he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
“Oh, that we might know the Lord!”
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in the early spring.”
Hosea 6:3 NLT
This is my heart for 2015–to know Him in a deeper way.
“He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me” 2 Samuel 22:18 (NKJV) Camon Criger, Longmont, CO
Linda Patterson, Wolcottville IN
Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come!
2Corinthians 5:17. New NIV
Hannah, Baton Rouge, LA “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (â€Hebrews‬ â€4‬:â€16‬ NIV)
Jacksonville,FL
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, plans for a future and a hope. ESV
Theresa, Tenaha, tx. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:15 NIV
Cheryl, Warsaw, IN
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 1 John 4:4 (NLT)
Chris Neuens, Weston, WI “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NIV
Kristen, Arvada, CO
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matt. 7:7-8 NKJ
Rita brake Los Alamos nm “whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord
And not for man. Colossians 3:23 HCSB
Carmen, Eagle River, Alaska
“For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19 NLT
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
James 1:1
Glenna Rohr, Carrollton, Texas. The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him. Habakkuk 2:20. He says, “Be still, and know I am God.” Psalm 46:10a
Bethany Stephens, Garland, TX. “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Is. 43:18-19 ESV
Laura Wyrabkiewicz Ida, Michigan
“Therfore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34 NKJV
Sandra Tenney
Concord, NC
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV
Carie Buckley, Mena AR.”But have nothing to do with worldly fables, fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. ” 1 Timothy 4:7 NASB
Sara Harris. Shreveport, La.
“Who can find a capable wife? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will not lack anything good.” Proverbs 31:10-11
Kristina- Fort Worth, Texas – Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Carrie Sheldrick, Mountain, Ontario, Canada
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 (ESV)
Lori Leija – Austin, Texas “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.” Psalm 119:36 NIV
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. NLT
Joy Brown, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b (NIV)
Kathi Spartanburg SC
Answer my prayers, O Lord,
for your unfailing love is wonderful.
Take care of me,
for your mercy is so plentiful. Psalm 69:17 NLT